Wenger wary of rough night among Bad Blue Boys

Money is burning a hole at the forefront of Arsène Wenger's mind. Not only is the Arsenal manager intent on demanding Chelsea pay the going rate for Ashley Cole, he is also determined to ensure his side overcome Dinamo Zagreb to proceed to the gold mine of the Champions League.

The Frenchman furrowed his brow yesterday when asked whether he had included qualification in his season's budget with the £390m Emirates Stadium casting a long shadow over the club's future. "We need to be successful, that is for sure," he answered firmly.

Wenger is intelligent enough not to underestimate the Croatian champions, and he admitted that avoiding a shock defeat, with the home second leg in mind, was far more important than winning tonight.

"Of course we will try to win here but above all we must not damage our chances of qualifying. In two weeks we will be in much better shape [for the second leg] than now, I hope," said Wenger, who is concerned that Zagreb possess an advantage with their league season already underway.

"Having seen them I must say that it is a tricky tie. The first factor is that they are a good side. The second one is that they are ahead of us physically. In a very intense game, playing 90 minutes will be difficult for us. We have to play to our strengths - skill, passing and speed. In [Zagreb's] last game on Friday it was very rainy and it has damaged the pitch a lot. I hope the pitch will be good enough to play our game."

Wenger is again forced to deploy a young side, although they can no longer justify labelling themselves as inexperienced after last season's near miss in the Champions League final. Thierry Henry is rested tonight and Wenger has Freddie Ljungberg, Philippe Senderos and Abou Diaby missing through injury. Jens Lehmann is suspended after his red card in the Champions League final and will be replaced by Manuel Almunia.

As eight-time winners of the Croatian league since its inception in 1991 Zagreb are the country's dominant club side. The Germany international Jens Nowotny is their most established name although their talented Brazilian striker Eduardo will stretch Arsenal at the Maksimir Stadium. Inside that venue, Wenger is also expecting a hostile reception from the notorious Bad Blue Boys fans.

"I have known Zagreb for a long time and it is always very intense down there," he said. "They usually have 5,000 or 6,000 but for this game they could have sold 200,000. Croatia is always a very intense football country."